Field of the Invention
The invention relates to pre-allocation of an elevator call. In particular, the invention relates to pre-allocation of an elevator call in an elevator system with destination control.
Description of the Related Art
From the point of view of controlling elevator cars, there are two major control arrangements in use today: elevator systems with traditional control and elevator systems with destination control.
In an elevator system with traditional control, controls both external and internal to an elevator car are provided. A passenger first operates the external controls, such as up and down buttons provided at each floor, to select the desired direction. In response to an up or down button pressed at a certain floor, the elevator arrives to pick up the passenger. Once inside the elevator car, the passenger operates call buttons inside the elevator car to choose his/her destination floor.
In an elevator system with destination control, destination control panels (also known as destination operating panels) are provided outside elevator cars (typically at each floor) where a passenger registers his/her destination floor call before entering the car. The system lets each passenger know which car to wait for, instead of everyone boarding the next car. Accordingly, travel time is reduced as the elevator car makes fewer stops for individual passengers, and the computer distributes adjacent stops to different cars in the bank. Typically, inside the elevator car there are no call buttons to push, but only indicators that indicate stopping floors. Elevator systems with destination control are typically used in sky-scraper buildings and other large buildings.
While an elevator system with destination control has several advantages over an elevator system with traditional control, the response time of the control system could still be further improved if elevator calls could be pre-allocated, that is, if the allocation of an elevator call could be started even before the passenger has entered his/her destination floor to the destination control panel.
Therefore, an passenger of the present invention is to alleviate the problems described above and to introduce a solution that allows pre-allocation of an elevator call in an elevator system with destination control.